Requiring students to read the Declaration of Independence, the U.S.
Constitution, and a daily newspaper would help connect them with their
communities and perpetuate a more civil society, a recent report
says.

The report, "A Nation of Spectators," was released last month by the
National Commission on Civic Renewal, a private, bipartisan group
created two years ago to investigate the condition of civic life.

For More Information

Read the
report from the National Commission on Civic Renewal. Or, to
order a hard copy, write the Commission at 3111 Van Munching
Hall, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742; (301)
405-2790.

The College Park, Md.-based commission determined that Americans are
pulling away from their communities and often feel powerless to improve
their quality of life. As evidence, the group cites its "index of
national civic health," a compilation of statistics such as voter
turnout, charitable contributions, teenage crime, and the divorce rate
between 1974 and 1996.

The report recommends that people become involved in local
government, join religious and community organizations, and strengthen
bonds within their own families and neighborhoods.

One way to promote that idea among students is to teach character
education and service learning in school, said former Secretary of
Education William J. Bennett, a Republican who co-chairs the commission
with former Democratic Sen. Sam Nunn of Georgia, at a June 24 news
conference here.

"We need to weave [character education and service learning] into
every aspect of a school's program," Larry Dieringer, the executive
director of Educators for Social Responsibility, a Cambridge,
Mass.-based nonprofit group, said in a phone interview. "The research
tells us if [students] have a nurturing environment like a classroom
and have an adult they can relate to ... we can reduce
violence."

Better Teachers

Other recommendations for schools in the report include improving
local academic standards, demanding more qualified teachers, and
increasing school choice opportunities for parents.

"Shockingly high percentages of teachers have neither majors nor
minors in the subjects they teach," the report states. "We call upon
every state to close this teacher preparation gap and ensure that
teachers can at least pass the subject-matter tests required of their
students."

In addition, foster care must be revamped to ensure that no child
spends more than one birthday without a permanent home, the report
argues. Ideally, all children would be raised in an intact two-parent
family and have access to mentors.

The Philadelphia-based Pew Charitable Trusts financed the report and
the ongoing work of the commission.

Vol. 17, Issue 42, Page 15

Published in Print: July 8, 1998, as Decrying Nation's Poor 'Civic Health,' Group Urges Schools To Take Action

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